Peace Day

(this is from a previous year)

Chandler's first event with a community group he joined last week, Roots & Shoots, was the Peace Dove flying during International Peace Day on Sunday, September 21.

Roots & Shoots is a worldwide organization started and sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute. The goal for his school's group, is the improve their human community and environment. One of the activities for the year, to maintain and enhance the school forest area, which is used by wildlife and for classroom studies.

The Peace Day event was held at McMenamins at their outdoor Yardhouse Pub. It was a simple event but sent a beautiful message. I am proud Chandler has the desire to be involved and stepped up to help.



Afterwards, we stopped at the Corn Roast hosted at Pacific U. An enjoyable community event hosted every year to honor the founders of Forest Grove.
We didn't have corn but did enjoy a cup of coffee while it rained.

Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival

Last Saturday, we attended the 18th Annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Festival in Forest Grove. We had no idea what was involved and had no expectations for the event or our art. We did arrive late since tennis lessons are Saturday mornings, which didn't make a difference besides our location on the sidewalk.

With chalk in hand, we found our square on the corner of Main and Pacific, in front of the US Bank. As we looked at our blank, concrete canvas, we pondered over the possibilities. I guess we all were hungry because pizza came to our mind. Henry wanted to create his own section. With that, Chandler and I decided Henry's section could be a piece of missing pizza pie.

Next year, we'll have plans with us, cushions and blankets to sit on, wipes for our hands, water to manipulate the chalk, extra chalk and maybe pizza!

Rachael Ray's Meals on a Budget...

and who couldn't use help with saving money these days!
Today, on Rachael , she created five meals under $22 for a family of eight from...Forest Grove, Oregon! They don't mention Forest Grove but during the video you may notice the utility bill with 'City of Forest Grove' at the top. I knew to look for them since the local paper had an article about their NYC adventure. They do some shopping at Winco (I don't shop there) it is a low price grocery store but is farther from us...gas may outweigh food costs these days, and walked around their neighborhood.
There go my chances of being on Rachael! How many families would they pick from a town of 20,000! Really, I'm so happy for this family, not only for their trip to NYC, but they received, from Sara Lee, $10,000 towards groceries!

My all time favorite tip from Rachael, freezing chicken breasts for future meals:
Place a single breast (or two depending on size of breast) inside a Ziploc Freezer bag and pound flat.
Add seasoning, marinade, spices (whatever you use that can freeze) and a little EVOO.
Repeat for all the breast and store flat/stacked in the freezer.
When ready to use, take out the number of breasts you need, defrost in the fridge.
Once thawed, the marinaded breasts are ready to be cooked.
It sounds simple enough, but I never thought of including all the seasonings. It makes for a quick dinner and it takes less room in the freezer than the store packaging.

A what?

Driving along a local road, I notice a covered wagon in the front yard of a farm.

Mom (me): "Look boys a covered wagon!"

Chandler: "Actually Mom, that's a Conestoga.

Mom: "A what?"

Chandler: "A Conestoga. We learned about wah, wah, wah (Charlie Brown adult voice) wah, wah wah, that is the difference."

Mom: "Wow, that's interesting Chandler."

Just kidding I totally listened to every word he said. I guess I'm not smarter than a 5th grader!

SocialSpark is for moms

As most of you know I joined SocialSpark several months ago. I joined to take the opportunity to view other blogs with similar interests and to get paid for posting.
Well, months later, I am thrilled about my membership with SocialSpark. As a stay-at-home mom, I am often looking for ways to make extra money but stay in touch with my kids and husband. Getting paid for posting on SocialSpark is a fantastic way to do both every day of the week.
Imagine moms, while the baby is napping, you can write a review about a favorite product or service that you use. Or maybe you will have the opportunity to try something new and write a review about that product.
Also, moms you can view other member's blogs, to see what they are reviewing or just to read their blog. I have made "friends" with several other members. Some have requested to be my friend, and I have done a few requests myself. One is a mom who home schools her children. I love reading her blog about the daily challenges of homeschooling and parenting. She also has great input on products for home and schooling. Another mom I visit on a regular basis, is a baker. She has great recipes on her blog. She also includes challenges of cooking healthy while caring for young children.
Really the communication is the icing on the cake for me. With the economy in such a crisis, it is great to have the SocialSpark opportunity! Moms you can keep up with your blog, stay at home, save gas, make friends, AND, the best part, make some money.

Radioactive Spider?

No, just some cool camera effects on a spider in our backyard. I believe Oregon is the spider capital of the nation. It is not unusual to have new webs around the house and yard just over night!

A Pillar of Strength

Friday night, I walked into Chandler's room to say goodnight. He was picking out a book to read. I melted into a millions pieces when I realized he was choosing the Bible.

He has a copy from our Pastor in Chandler, AZ who gave it as a gift during his confirmation into baptism. She also would have guided Chandler with his baptism, but the move interrupted that event.

He admitted the hardest part of reading the Bible is the small print. I was honored to pass on Grandpa Acker's large print Bible which I acquired after my mother's death in 2006. She gave it to him in 1989 and he passed it onto her in 1998 when he passed away.

It has many papers holding pages and reading places of those passed. The one paper that stood out the most is the following:

'Dear God, Heavenly Father, All of the praying I do, the asking, the thanking, well, I realized I've never really thanked you fully for the gift of life. Of all the women you could have sent me to, I'm so thankful you chose my mother. When I was young , she was my source of comfort, companionship, a pillar of strength and of great beauty. Now that I'm grown with children of my own, I still look to her for all those things and more, and she's always there--you are always there in her eyes. So tonight my prayer is simple. I ask that you please fill her heart with the overwhelming love I feel for her in mine.'

My sister Suzanne gave this to my mother (not sure of the year) and my mother gave it to her mother on her 80th birthday, which would be 1994 I believe. It is so beautiful and hopefully it fills your heart with the remembrance of how much you care for your mother or father.

It is all in the wording

No you are not, not seeing things, the above picture is nothing but a white piece of paper with 'Henry' written on it.

Henry's Teacher: "Class, I'm going to read a book to you. While I'm reading, I would like you to draw on this paper anything that comes to your mind."

(Those of you who know Henry might have this one already figured out.)

Teacher reads the book then walks around the classroom to view the drawings.

She gets to Henry's desk...

Teacher: "Henry, why didn't you draw anything?"

Henry: "You said to draw whatever came to my mind."

Teacher: "Yes, I did."

Henry: "Nothing came to my mind."

His teacher shared that with me during Meet the Teacher Tuesday night. Luckily, she thought it was funny and admitted she will consider her wording in the future.

The blank paper came home Friday with the rest of his week's work.

The Trouble with Boys

I think those of us with boys can really relate to the point being made here. It is very tempting to want our boys to fit into the typical school classroom but is it possible, every day, all day? Even if a teacher can relate or understand a boy, does the school curriculum allow the teacher to make adjustments for the boys in the classroom.
For me, I want my boys to understand there is a time and place for goofing off or horsing around, but the classroom is not that place. BUT, the classroom shouldn't be so stressed that they have a meltdown when they are released from school.
What do you think?

Crocs

I love, love, love this photo, really the text is what I love. Okay, I'm going to say it, I hate this style shoe. I don't want to say Crocs because Crocs does have a number of other style shoes, though I'm not sure if I like those either.

A Little Squirrelly

Look who I found noshing on our apples. Isn't he(she) adorable. We have so many apples, I'm happy to share with our wildlife and neighbors. Our squirrels are very bird feeder friendly. They many nibble on fallen seed but usually let the birds have the feeder.

My mom and Ted weren't as lucky. It was a constant challenge to find a solution to their squirrel problem. One year, I even commissioned a wood craftsman to make a window feeder I designed.

This cartoon is a family favorite.

What do you see?

Please watch this video and comment on what you see when looking at the candidates. For this posting you need only watch the first 50 seconds, although out of respect, I watched all of it.

Obama & McCain at Ground Zero

Then read this blog with comments on the video.

Video Comments

Did you notice?

Trash to Treasure Update

This is the final product of my stool restoration. I thought about doing a lot of detail to make it look like the original but once I started sanding I realized the wear was extensive. To save a lot of time and sweat, I decided to use one color all over. It is a textured, rustic, wrought iron color, sort of matching the hinges on my hutch, which is in the kitchen also.

First Day of School

Blueberry Pancake Breakfast for all!

Mr. 5th Grader, at 5'1", size 8.5 men's shoe!

As the Dr. calls him SOLID!

Well, that was a long summer break! I am still amazed by the length of their break...almost 12 weeks! I truly enjoyed every moment during this break in our new home. I am so lucky to be at home with Chandler and Henry.

They started school last Wednesday, September 3. Wade took Chandler into his class, I took Henry. The schools here do not have a before school starts meet the teacher; meet the teacher is within the next week. They do encourage parents to walk their children into class the first day. Chandler's school even offered parents to stay 45 minutes into class.

Henry is in 3rd grade at the same school as last year. Chandler is in 5th grade at the upper elementary school which houses 5th and 6th grade for the district, about 900 students! They both seem happy with their teachers, classmates and surroundings. Chandler especially likes the format of the new school. Henry likes school but says, "I'd rather stay home and play all day." He asked me the other day, what I do while they are at school. I ran down the long "to-do" list I have and asked him if he had any questions. He responded with, "Do you ever play Guitar Hero?"

No more bees

It has taken a few days but the bees are no longer visiting the feeder. It was very interesting to watch their habits during this invasion. Their predictable patterns are very surprising. Several websites suggested the same action to remove them, and sure enough the suggestions worked. Also, since the feeder hangs near our windows, we were able to view the bees very closely, which is a rarity for bees.
The first day one bee was caught in a spider's web on the outside of the sliding door. We were able to view the spider winding the bee into a cocoon and then resting on it. We assumed it was feeding at that time.
In the second hanging location, we could stand right at the window to view the bees. Of course we didn't have all day to stand there but during the intervals we did, some bees didn't move from the feeder, others drank and left, and even others fought for a position on the feeder.
The hummingbirds continued to visit the feeder but not without irritation from the bees. Once they rested to drink, a few bees would swarm them from a distance, it was enough to run the birds off.
It was really amazing to watch nature. I am glad we didn't need to resort to killing the bees and our regular hummingbirds are glad they are gone.

Hummingbird Feeder Update-Day Three

Plan: Purchase new feeder (old one probably leaking), hang in original location, see if bees return.
Result: New feeder in old location all day, bees return but have no luck getting sugar water so they leave.

Hummingbird Feeder Update--Day Two

Plan: Remove feeder from yard all together.
Result: Bees swarmed area for awhile then left.

Hummingbird Feeder Update-Day One

Plan: Move the hummingbird feeder to another location.
Result: After swarming around the old location for a few hours, the bees found the feeder in the new location.

Get &%#@ off my #*&@*ing feeder!

See what has our humming bird in a tither...

Suddenly, out of the blue, bees have taken a liking to one of our hummingbird feeders. Brutus is not happy!
I have done some research online for solutions, like moving the feeder, painting the flowers red, and changing feeders. Although this feeder is one of the recommended for keeping bees off, apparently it has a leak.
Give me a few days for results.